KPMG Foundation Awards $470,000 in Scholarships to 47 Minority Accounting Doctoral Scholars

NEW YORK, July 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The KPMG Foundation today announced it has awarded a total of $470,000 in scholarships to 47 minority accounting doctoral students for the 2010–2011 academic year.  Of the 47 scholarships, the Foundation named 12 new recipients and renewed 35 existing awards.  Each scholarship is valued at $10,000 and renewable annually for up to five years.

"We are pleased to provide financial support, career guidance and other resources to each of these talented men and women as they move closer to fulfilling their dreams of becoming business professors," said Bernie Milano, KPMG Foundation president. "Over the years it has been a pleasure to see the impact the recipients of these scholarships have had on improving diversity in business schools and we look forward to the accomplishments of these 47 individuals."

Since 1994, the KPMG Foundation has awarded scholarships to 288 African American, Hispanic, and Native American scholars pursuing doctorate degrees, as part of its ongoing commitment to increase the representation of minority students and professors in business schools.  Today, 183 of the scholarship recipients have completed their doctoral program and are professors at universities throughout the country, with an additional 60 students, including the 47 receiving scholarships this year, currently in a doctoral program or scheduled to begin one this fall.

Created by the KPMG Foundation in 1994, The PhD Project, a related program whose mission is to increase the diversity of business school faculty, has helped to boost the number of minority business professors to more than 1,043 from 294 when The Project started.  As of this September, there will be some 400 minorities in business related doctoral programs.

"Strengthening diversity in the workforce starts in the classroom," said Stacy Sturgeon, KPMG LLP's national managing partner – university relations and recruiting. "A more diverse faculty means more role models who can inspire younger minority students to pursue business degrees."

The new recipients and their Ph.D. affiliations are:

• Marquita Barnes, Georgia State
• John Barrios, University of Miami
• Kayla Booker, Jackson State University
• Marcus Brooks, University of Texas San Antonio
• Joanna Garcia, Virginia Tech
• Rachel Martin, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Michael Paz, Drexel University
• Joshua Racca, University of North Texas
• Willie Reddic, Syracuse University
• Joseph Reid, University of Memphis
• Raul Tapia, University of Texas El Paso
• Chanta Thomas, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale

KPMG Foundation Accounting Minority Doctoral Scholarship program

The KPMG Foundation Accounting Minority Doctoral Scholarship program aims to further increase the completion rate among African American, Hispanic American and Native American doctoral students in accounting, and is part of a larger commitment by the KPMG Foundation to increase minority representation not only in accounting programs at colleges and universities, but in the American work force. The program complements The PhD Project, a separate 501(c)(3) organization that the KPMG Foundation founded in 1994, which recruits minority professionals from business into doctoral programs in all business disciplines. The PhD Project attacks the root cause of minority under-representation in corporate jobs: historically, very few minority college students study business as an entree to a corporate career.  Diversifying the faculty attracts more minorities to study business and better prepares all students to function in a diverse workforce.

KPMG Foundation

The KPMG Foundation is a 501(c)(3) private foundation. The Foundation operates on donations from KPMG LLP, the U.S. audit, tax and advisory firm.  For fiscal year 2009, KPMG donated over $6 million to the Foundation. Through the KPMG Foundation, the firm has spent over 40 years supporting and developing programs to enhance business education.

About KPMG LLP

KPMG LLP, the audit, tax and advisory firm (www.us.kpmg.com), is the U.S. member firm of KPMG International Cooperative ("KPMG International.")  KPMG International's member firms have 140,000 professionals, including more than 7,900 partners, in 145 countries.

SOURCE KPMG

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